May claims below-cost ban will cut alcohol incidents by 7,000

Home Secretary Theresa May has claimed the ban on below-cost selling will mean 7,000 fewer alcohol-related incidents and 1,000 fewer hospital admissions a year.

The coalition last week unveiled its plans to ban the practice, but sparked ridicule after it revealed a definition of duty plus VAT will be used. This means the vast majority of cut-price supermarket deals will not be affected.

But May yesterday suggested in Parliament it would have a significant impact - and hinted the definition may not be extended.

Lib Dem MP Tom Brake asked how many alcohol-related deaths would be avoided with the ban and whether the government would consider extending it to include production and transport costs.

May said: "We expect that there will be 7,000 fewer alcohol-related incidents and 1,000 fewer hospital admissions as a result of the ban on below-cost alcohol sales."

Keith Vaz, the Labour MP for Leicester East, called on the government to make it a "genuine exercise, not just a box-ticking exercise". He urged the level of pricing to be looked at, as under the current definition it would only be 21p a unit.

But May said: "He refers to a minimum price for alcohol, but we are banning below-cost sales of alcohol, and we have set that cost at VAT plus duty.

"That is slightly different from a minimum per unit price for alcohol, but it is important to recognise that in relation to cracking down on problem drinking we have taken not only that step but a number of other measures."

Earlier, Tory MP Fiona Bruce raised concerns about the enforcement of current licensing laws.

"Licensing officers inform me that current procedures make enforcement action unwieldy and protracted, even when a sale to an under-age individual has clearly occurred," she said.

May responded by saying it was important enforcement took place properly - and vowed to examine the difficulties around enforcing the licensing laws.